History Drag cars in motion.......picture thread.

Woody! Any idea where this is at?

 

More Indy. The rear-engined car on the left was called "Re-Entry," and apparently met a fatal end, according to some drag racing sites. Anyone know more? (thanks to Time Traveler, who supplied information: car was built by Wayne Hill and driven by Bob Lindwall...it did crash (see below), but Lindwall survived, only to die shortly in a street accident


No ID


No ID


Rat Trap at Irwindale



Damn, I should know this car, I was racing fuel altereds then...at Irwindale (and JayTee from Ireland filled in the blank, Lance & Gunn...Sherm Gunn would form M&S Welding with Mike Hoag (who used to work at Blair's), and built some killer altered and funny cars)


No ID


Surfers, not sure who they are racing


Walter Knox, before the chop...This car was one of the toughest A/A in the country. Fiat bodies had suicide doors, and weak latches, so they sometimes came open at high speed...notice that Walt has moved the hinges to the front of the door, probably why it is primed....


Bruce Wheeler's "Wheeler Dealer," sometimes driven by Al Friedman


No clue where, when, or who...but this is old-time drag racing when two street driven cars could choose off

 

This strip at Scappoose, Oregon Airport is where drag racing started in '51 around here. A hotrod, custom or a stocker, with a white shoe polish number and you were ready to race !

 

This one is up for grabs it appears:



http://wheeling.craigslist.org/cto/4984913286.html

 

Great photos Marty!! Love the early stuff.

 

Slowmotion - 14k isn't too far off for the '57 ''Bellaire''.

 

Five seasons before Don Garlits and Connie Swingle perfected the mid-engined layout, chassis-builder Wayne Hill and driver Bob Lindwall were on the right track—right up until this disastrous pass at the U.S. Nationals. Note the aerodynamic havoc in a previously unpublished photo that surfaced during archive research for this article. Previously clocked at 200-plus, Re-Entry was the fastest back-motored drag car built to date. Lindwall survived the crash, only to die in a street accident shortly thereafter.

http://www.hotrod.com/features/the-golden-age-of-drag-racing-part-6/

 

Dean, I have a bunch of those, aside from the race cars, the mild custom shoeboxes, Mercs and others parked alongside add to the scene.

 

Perfected is probably true but not without Pat Fosters insight.

In his own words, here's how Patty answered the question: "How did the ill-fated Woody car come to be?"
"There was no particular reason that Woody and I decided to build a back motored car. It began as lunch talk and grew from there. We decided to do the car with Woody supplying the materials and me donating the labor. We approached John Bateman to use his running gear and one of his 392's. He agreed, so the work began. We felt to be able to achieve the balance of the better running front motor cars of the era we needed to get the static load on the rear as high as possible so we inverted the rear end, used a small gear drive off the pinion to reverse the rotation, came back through the rear housing to the bell housing. Back of block to centerline of rear ended up about 18 ".
Some how, John and Woody had a falling apart and Leland Kolb ended up the motor supplier. After two outings with the piece, both marred by poor handling, we slowed the steering from the regular 6-1 ratio to 10-1 and headed to the Beach for more testing. The car hooked hard and made a very nice, straight hard run until entering the lights, at which time it picked up the front end violently, got on the fifth wheel just behind the seat, tipped on to left rear and catapulted the car over the right lane guardrail where it struck a light pole. By the way, we started in the left lane.
Garlits called me a week or so later in the hospital and asked my opinion was the accident, as he was thinking of building a similar car after his accident at Long Beach. I told him to put a wing on the front, no fifth wheel and to slow the steering, the rest is history."
Pat Foster
More to The Story from Foster...
Woody and I built the car and used Leland Kolb's engine and clutch. We thought it was time to get the driver out of harms way, so did the car as a spec project. This was before Garlits and Swingle did his. Soon after crashing the original car Woody made the changes needed and did another for Duane Ong, that performed well.
The car I crashed had the engine too far to the rear and needed a front. wing. Also prior to the night at Long Beach we had made a couple of attempts at OCIR and Irwindale, where we determined the steering had to be slowed considerably. That handled, we went to the 'Beach' convinced we had it figured out. On it's initial run that day it hauled ass, straight as an arrow to the 1100-1200 ft mark then violently started a blow-over. A single fifth wheel, close to the axle centerline caused it to tip onto the left rear slick and launched it over the opposite guardrail, where it hit a phone pole about eight feet from the ground.
Myself and the front half of the car dropped to the bottom of the pole while the rear half with the engine went through the spectator parking lot and ended up almost at Willow St.
Gar called me in the hospital after two weeks and asked if I had any suggestions for his back motored car he and Swingle had on the jig. I told him to slow the steering and not locate the engine as far to the rear as we had done and to consider a wing on the front.

 

Great, informative stories guys. Thanks for posting them.

 

296 the car is Lawce Bros and Gunn, here's the car after it came to England

 

My dad is the tall guy in the middle. The engine in the rail went into the Crosley altered in the early '60s

 

In reference to the comments on rear-engined cars:


This is the car that Pat Foster drove, referenced above...notice engine placement




and a couple of pictures of Re-Entry...all these pictures came from Don Ewald's site

 

First, some new pictures from George Klass, he collects them, I just try to caption:


Lefty, who would try almost anything to get quicker, here with dual slicks and blowers...Pomona, notice that the orange shed is still there...


The Little Red Rocket (except that it was blue!) Gene Adams blown Olds that he previously ran in his B/G Olds, in an Itow chassis -- sponsored by Albertson Olds in Culver City...driver was Leonard Harris, who would go on to drive the Albertson Olds dragster when Gene built a larger Olds with a 6-71 and Hilborn 4-hole injectors. Leonard would later lose his life at Lion's test-driving another dragster...


I have never seen this picture of the Masters Dragliner. It usually ran carburetors but here it looks like it is wearing a Latham blower with side-draft carbs...Jim Nelson and Dode Martin did run a Latham on the later Dragmaster until they switched to a front-mounted 6-71...but it looks like they first tried the setup on the Dragliner...The Ford woody was a staple that also pushed the Dragmaster...painted matching gold...these guys were first-class.



Jesse Perkins' Cow Palace Shell dragster, usually driven by Bob Hightower though others also drove. "Cow Palace Shell?" you ask? Jesse ran a Shell gas station next to San Francisco's Cow Palace, a big auditorium that, among other things, hosted the 1964 Republican National Convention...


Lots of pictures of Jocko's car, but I haven't seen this one before. It posted a then unheard of 8.35 at Riverside, though I don't think it ever got backed up. Jocko later put an airplane engine in it...


Ellis & Wilton "trigster," this might have been the last version of a creation of Ellis' that went back to the '50s with a blown flathead. It worked, and won a number of top eliminator titles in its various forms. Kenny Ellis in the firesuit and Leon "Bubby" Wilton in the shades. Ellis went on to run a twin gas burner and Bubby partnered on a BBC fueler that has recently been restored -- by Bubby.. He was a great guy, taught me a lot about how to run fuel motors.


Leon Fitzgerald in the lights...this picture may be beyond the unofficial cutoff date, hope it's ok...

Yes, this picture has probably been here before, but it is too cool to ignore. Paul Sutherland in the lights at San Fernando in Brisette's Woody house car...notice the weight on the front, and still the left front wheel is off the ground...


Don't remember when I found this photo of someone obviously in trouble, looks like Pomona

Ok, another fuzzy photo and text from Drag News, but this has a story:





I used to crew for Nick, who was a drag racer in every sense of the term (good and bad)...he raced on a shoestring budget, was constantly in debt, and moving constantly to avoid payment...he built this car himself out of old tubing, a junk Chrysler, a Plymouth axle front end, and 12" midget wheels up front. His wife was maybe 13 years old, and they lived sometimes in the Sierra Madre canyon (are you still here, Mazooma??)...or Altadena, or Pasadena, or wherever they could find a cheap place. Don Blair sponsored Nick, as did Isky, and he ran as hard as his wallet would let him...I have no idea what happened to him, rumor was that he went deep-sea fishing...but he sure left a lot of memories from those of us who knew him...

 

Cliff Svela and his sons, Jim and Jack from Beaverton Oregon, campaigned this "Match Racer" in '66. They used the engine and parts from their wrecked Fueler, note the damaged Moon tank.

 

Regarding Kenny Ellis' 3 wheeler, there was one more version, with a blown Chrysler.

 

Looks like a motel parking lot near IRP.

 

Pulled from facebook. Decal on side window says Russ Davis Racing Team.

 

Marty, was that pic of the Super Ford taken at Woodburn?
It kind of looks a little off, so many spectators on the left side, or am I just losing it?
Thanks for posting, we need MORE NW cars here !!

 

Beats me? Anyone?

 

A so so pic of one of Hugh Wedekinds Little Annie Fanny's.
Variously powered by Fords and Chevy's, 6's and 8's, a very sanitary and fast car. Don't know why there are so few pics on the web!